Illusionist almost drowns trying to escape water tank on Uri Geller's live TV show

A female illusionist and mind-reader nearly drowned on live TV yesterday as she attempted to escape from a tank of water on the show of celebrated fork-bender Uri Geller.

A contestant identified only as Amila, 26, was sealed in a tank which slowly filled with water.

She had to guess a four-figure code which would enable her to get out on the show called ‘The Next Uri Geller’, which is screened on German television channel ProSieben.

Deadly trick: The water slowly rises inside the sealed water tank as female illusionist Amila holds the equipment into which she must type a four-figure code

But despite having two attempts at guessing the code, she could only get two of the numbers right - not enough to open the lock.

The tank filled up with water and she was completely under for around 25 seconds, thrashing around as the clock ticked down.

A show assistant had to break open the lock with bolt cutters and pulled the clearly shocked woman out of the tank.

Unable to break the code Amila starts to thrash around inside the tank

She has not commented on the incident.

Geller’s show invites aspiring illusionists to compete for the title of his successor on the show. Viewers can phone into a poll to vote for one of the evening’s contestants to continue through to the next round.

Amila was voted through despite her evident failure to perform the trick.

Realising something is wrong, a stagehand breaks open the lock with a pair of bolt cutters